Month: June 2019

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US bishops thank House for approving immigration bill

June 5, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Washington D.C., Jun 5, 2019 / 04:54 pm (CNA).- The chairman of the US bishops’ migration committee welcomed Tuesday a vote in the House of Representatives passing a bill that would provide a citizenship path for some brought to the US illegally as children, among others.

The House passed the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019 by a 237-187 vote June 4. Along with some “Dreamers”, who were illegally brought to the US as minors, it would allow a path to cizenship for qualified holders of Temporary Protected Status or Deferred Enforced Departure.

“This is a big step for Dreamers and TPS holders who have called the United States home but have been working and living in uncertainty for years,” said Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin. “Dreamers, TPS and DED holders are working to make our communities and parishes strong and are vital contributors to our country. We welcome today’s vote and urge the Senate to take up this legislation which gives permanent protection to Dreamers, TPS and DED holders.”

The bill would grant qualifying childhood arrivals 10 years of legal residence, after which they could receive permanent legal residence with two years of higher education or military service, or three years of employment.

TPS is an immigration benefit that allows persons who are unable to return safely to their home countries because of armed conflict, other violence, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions to remain in the United States while the situation in their home country resolves. It protects them from deportation and grants them permission to work. DED protects from deportation persons from countries or regions facing political or civic conflict or natural disaster, and allows them to work. The status is currently given only to Liberians.

Those with TPS or DED could apply for lawful permanent residence if they have been in the country for at least three years and have passed background checks. After five yearrs of lawful permanent residence, they would apply for citizenship.

Voting for the bill were the Democrats in the House, as well as seven Republicans.

Similar bills have been introduced in the Senate, but according to Felicia Sonmez at the Washington Post “it is unlikely that the Senate will consider the bill.”

Last month, Bishop Vásquez and Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston, president of the US bishops’ conference, voiced concern over a separate immigration plan from the Trump administration which prioritizes immigration status based on merit rather than family ties.

“We oppose proposals that seek to curtail family-based immigration and create a largely ‘merit-based’ immigration system,” they said. “Families are the foundation of our faith, our society, our history, and our immigration system.”

The administration’s proposal would significantly reduce the current family-based portion of the immigration system, instead focusing on applicants with high education and skill levels.

The plan would not provide legal status for those brought to the United States illegally as children. Nor does it provide a clear path forward for TPS holders.

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Maine advances assisted suicide law

June 5, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Portland, Maine, Jun 5, 2019 / 10:00 am (CNA).- A bill legalizing assisted suicide in Maine moved to the governor’s desk on Tuesday after both houses of the state’s legislature narrowly passed the legislation.

The so-called “Dignity … […]

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‘Witnesses of freedom and mercy’ – Pope Francis remembers bishops martyred under Communism

June 5, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Vatican City, Jun 5, 2019 / 03:29 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Wednesday reflected upon his recent apostolic visit to Romania, where he beatified seven Greek-Catholic bishops martyred under Soviet occupation.

The pope said June 5 that the beatified bishops were “witnesses to the freedom and mercy that comes from the Gospel.”

“One of these new blesseds, Mgr. Iuliu Hossu, during his imprisonment wrote: ‘God sent us into this darkness of suffering to forgive and pray for the conversion of all,'” he said.

“Thinking of the terrible tortures to which they were subjected, these words are a testimony of mercy,” Pope Francis reflected during his weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square.

Pope Francis declared the beatification of Blessed Bishops Iuliu Hossu, Valeriu Traian Frentiu, Vasile Aftenie, Ioan Suciu, Tito Livio Chinezu, Ioan Balan, and Alexandru Rusu during a Greek-Catholic Divine Liturgy in the “Field of Freedom” in Blaj, Romania June 2.

Each of the seven bishops died after being held in prisons or labor camps in Romania between 1950 and 1970 under Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu’s regime, which harshly persecuted and imprisoned Romanian Catholics in both the Greek and Latin rites.

“The Catholic community, both Greek and Latin, is alive and active,” Pope Francis said. “We have shown that unity does not take away legitimate diversity.”

Pope Francis celebrated Mass in both rites during his three-day visit to Romania with Masses in the Latin rite for the feast of Mary’s visitation in the Bucharest Cathedral and at Transylvania’s Marian pilgrimage shrine of Șumuleu-Ciuc, in addition to the Divine Liturgy in Blaj.

The pope also met with Patriarch Daniel and the Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Bucharest, a meeting which he said highlighted “the value and the need to walk together among Christians, on the level of faith and charity, and as citizens on the level of civil commitment.”

“The union among all Christians, although incomplete, is based on one Baptism and is sealed by the blood and suffering suffered together in the dark times of persecution, particularly in the last century under the atheistic regime,” Pope Francis said.

“May the Holy Spirit lead us to live ever more as children of God and brothers among us,” he said.

Pope Francis thanked God for his apostolic journey to Romania May 31 – June 2 and asked for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the visit to “bear abundant fruit for Romania and for the Church.”

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Bishops of Argentina pledge to respond to report on abuse allegations

June 4, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jun 5, 2019 / 12:40 am (CNA).- The bishops’ conference of Argentina has said it is examining and will respond to a new report of more than 60 allegations of sexual abuse by priests and religious in the country.

Officials with the conference said they are working on new protocols and actions to protect minors, following the Vatican summit on the topic earlier this year.

A recent report in La Nación detailed 63 cases of alleged sexual abuse by priests and religious of the Church in Argentina in the last two decades. Of these cases, 17 resulted in convictions, 22 are in judicial process, 24 were not prosecuted and 12 led to dismissal from the clerical state.

Among the cases mentioned are those of Juan Escobar Gaviria, who is now serving a 25-year prison sentence; Nicola Corradi, accused of abusing hearing impaired minors at the Próvolo Institute; and Gustavo Zanchetta, the bishop emeritus of Orán and adviser to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy Apostolic See since December 2017, who is under investigation at the Vatican for alleged sexual abuse and the abuse of power.

In their report, La Nación says that the Church in Argentina “for years covered up its priests and religious accused of sexual abuse” through a system of transferring them to new assignments rather than removing them from ministry.

Bishop Sergio Buenanueva of San Francisco warned in a statement that transferring priests accused of sexual abuse was a “habitual” and “totally fatal” practice.

“There is a sick system in the Church that covered up, or inhibited the abuses from coming to light and it ended up favoring the perpetrator,” said Buenanueva, who serves as coordinator of the Pastoral Council for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults of the Argentine Bishops’ Conference.

The prelate said they are in the process of making a complete list of the cases, “as other episcopates have done.”

Buenanueva told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language sister agency, that the bishops’ conference will take “a few days to assess and evaluate” the report.

In March, during the 117th plenary assembly of the Argentine Bishops’ Conference, the bishops called for “a radical break” with conditions of sexual abuse, the abuse of power, and cover up.

“We must renew at its roots the lifestyles and formation structures that have made it possible to create in some clerics a sense of superiority and dominion over the faithful and which have facilitated their living, as if they didn’t have to give an account of their actions to anyone, in a situation of veritable impunity,” said the Bishop Oscar Ojea of San Isidro, president of the Argentine Bishops’ Conference.

Last month, Pope Francis signed the motu propio Vos estis lux mundi (You are the light of the world), which establishes new procedures to prevent and report cases of sexual abuse within the Church.

The norms establish obligatory reporting for clerics and religious, require that every diocese has a mechanism for reporting abuse, and put the metropolitan archbishop in charge of investigations of accusations against suffragan bishops.

The motu proprio also states that every diocese must create a stable mechanism or system through which people may submit reports of abuse or its cover-up. The exact form of the system, which could also be an entire office, will be left to the discretion of the individual diocese, but must be established by June 2020.

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

 

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